Trouble Talks ‘Edgewood,’ Working With The Weeknd & Mike WiLL Made-It On ‘For The Record’

Atlanta rapper Trouble first caught the industry’s attention with his 2011 mixtape December 17th, which lured listeners in with hard rap standouts like “Bussin.‘’ After releasing several projects over the years, Trouble inked a deal with Mike WiLL Made-It’s Ear Drummer Records and dropped his official studio debut Edgewood this past March.

Named after the neighborhood he grew up in, Edgewood is executively produced by Mike and enlists impressive features from artists like Drake, The Weeknd, Boosie Badazz, and Fetty Wap. Trouble recently spoke about the collaborations on Genius' For The Record, an in-depth talk show hosted by Rob Markman, where he also discussed how he linked up with Mike for the album.

Trouble explained that serving two jail stints helped him realize that he’d rather be in the studio making music, and it pushed him to change some things in his life. “You won’t be in the same place forever but that don’t mean you do the same old shit,” he said.

The rapper and Mike have known each other for years, and the producer gave him a call when Trouble was released from one of his jail sentences. The two started to work on music at Atlanta’s famous Tree Sound Studio, which Trouble admits he hates driving to since it’s 30 minutes away from his home. He also confessed to blocking Mike on his phone, after he kept ringing him up about the music.

“How I feel about shit I don’t want no problem so, that’s why I stay away from shit,” says Trouble. “When somebody always callin' me to the studio, I fuck that shit. I actually blocked him at one point like bro, stop callin' me, god damn calls, talkin' bout some studio, fuck I already feel.”

He also spoke about his Weeknd collaboration “Come Thru,” and that he first met the singer six years ago after several people recommended they work together. But there was some confusion whenever The Weeknd’s name was mentioned, since Trouble thought people were referring to actual weekends.

“I ain’t even know the hell he was at the time,” he says, referencing a conversation he had about the singer. “I was like, ‘What you mean we doing on the weekend? I ain’t doing shit on the weekend.’ He like ‘Nah, this nigga poppin and singin and shit, like some Micheal Jackson shit.’ I’m like for real?”

Trouble also played a round of Record Break, where he answered rapid fire questions about his favorite artists and songs–revealing Boosie to be one of his all-time favorites.